


Smoke & Mirrors

by seraluci



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Violence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Imprisonment, Secret Identity, Slow Burn, Vigilante Justice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:49:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29983119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraluci/pseuds/seraluci
Summary: Katara doesn’t know exactly what will come of her vigilante adventures with a masked counterpart in Ba Sing Se, but what she does know is that there’s something magnetic about him; and something that’s almost comfortingly familiar. Even if the mysterious Blue Spirit, enemy of the Fire Nation, doesn’t speak or show his face. Blutara AU.
Relationships: Katara/The Blue Spirit (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 81





	1. disparate youth (prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> No, you're not hallucinating. This fic was very recently finished and taken down, and now it is back.😂 
> 
> Thank you very much for being here. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

It was twilight.

The streets of Ba Sing Se were becoming dark, dancing with shadows as people bustled about, moving through main streets or turning down alleys. They were refusing, as people in colossal metropolises tend to do, to let the approaching night hour slow them down.

Katara slipped through the streets, alone.

This was something of a rarity. In fact, once she got back to the mansion in the upper ring that had been given to her and her friends as their official place to stay in Ba Sing Se, Katara was almost certain that Sokka was going to lecture her about staying out too late alone. They had all agreed that being out at dark was better in pairs or, optimally, as a group.

Katara hadn’t meant to stay out until dark. Her time shopping at the marketplace had passed much more quickly than she had anticipated.

There was just so much to look at in the city. She certainly missed her village; she missed the way the snow crunched under her feet and the way that the cold would bite at her nose and cheeks. She missed the penguins, and, of course, Gran-Gran and the others she and Sokka had left behind. But the city, large and secretive and imperfect as it was, fascinated Katara.

Here were crowds of people going about their business, all living entirely separate from one another. Strangers, with lives and hopes and dreams and goals that Katara would never know. Products that filled markets that Katara could marvel at for hours—spices or foods that she still had never seen, despite the fact that she’d been traveling the world on the back of a sky bison for no short amount of time by now.

And the _noise_.

The upper ring was quiet—there were rules there about too much noise. But down here, in the lower ring, the chaos never stopped.

And Ba Sing Se was especially fascinating in the dark. Lights glittered and people scuttled and the conflicts that the authorities tried to hide and deny were harder to suppress.

Katara both hated and loved Ba Sing Se.

Katara slung her bag higher over her shoulder as she walked, trying not to groan out loud. It was very heavy, and the strap was digging into her shoulder. There were vegetables inside, and she knew the potatoes were the main source of weight. She sighed, peering up in the direction that she knew the upper ring was located even if she couldn’t see it through the complex web of crowded buildings. She had a long way to go. If only she could get there over the rooftops. What she could do, however, was take shortcuts.

Katara had taken the route between the upper and lower rings enough times now that she knew some of the best narrow streets to slip through. She had hurried through two winding streets and four alleys and was trying to ignore the ache that was beginning to build on her shoulder and that was creeping into her neck when she heard something that immediately made her heart begin to pound.

It was a squeak of fear—a little girl.

Katara knew this sound far too well. Countless times, she had been the little girl making sounds like that. Or she'd heard them from the other little girls in her village during raids. So it was with no hesitation at all that Katara hurried forward to follow the sound of the voices. They seemed to be coming from an alley ahead and to her left.

“—my mother needs it, she’s pregnant—” The young girl’s voice was shaking but still sounded determined.

Katara picked up the pace even more, her heart now stampeding against her ribs.

“Then she should have come and gotten it herself,” growled a man’s voice. It was deep and adult and Katara promptly abandoned the bag on her shoulder so she could enter a full on sprint. “Hand it over, girl. No harm will come to you if you do.”

“She has to be home with my little brother. He’s too young.” The girl sounded tearful. “We’re all very hungry. We really need this. Please mister, don’t—” But her words were drowned out in a little scream, and then came the sound of fabric ripping.

“Stupid little brat,” snarled the man just as Katara made it around the corner and got a full view of the situation. They had clearly struggled over the bag the little girl had been carrying, similar to Katara’s, but it had ripped and sent the food tumbling to the dirty ground. The man raised his hand, about to strike her.

Katara, simmering with rage, began to summon water out of the water pouch that she always kept hanging over her hip, ready to attack—

Before she could, however, a figure dropped out of the sky. Or, more accurately, from the roof above.

They weren’t facing Katara. But she could see from her position still halfway down the alley that they were dressed in all black. And she could also see the double blades glinting on their back. The figure made no sound as it promptly stepped in front of the girl.

Katara could make out ribbons tied to the back of the figure’s head. Whoever they were, they were much shorter than the looming man before them. And yet, they didn’t draw the double blades. They just stood there, spine straightened, waiting for their opponent to strike.

It all happened very quickly. The large man, with a furious yell, lunged forward to attack the newcomer.

The little girl screamed, stumbling backward, but the figure side-stepped deftly to the left, light on their feet, and then turned and aimed a swift chopping motion into the man’s side. When this caused the man to stumble, the next jab came to his neck, hard enough that he fell to the ground. It was then that the figure drew one blade, quick as lightning, and held it at the man’s neck.

There was near silence for a few seconds; only the sounds of the large man’s breathing could be heard, harsh and furious under the sword pressed lightly into his throat.

“I’ll go,” he spat out finally. “Let me up, and I’ll go.”

The figure hesitated. Finally, they stepped back. They removed the blade just enough for the man to stand up but did not lower it, and they also did not relax their fighting stance. The large man looked angry enough to spit, but eventually he turned and lumbered away, grumbling.

Katara was already hurrying forward, but the figure and the little girl hadn’t noticed her yet. The little girl seemed to be preoccupied with staring up at her savior, who’d begun to turn around. A flash of blue and white—the taunting smile of a familiar mask—

Images raced across Katara’s mind’s eye, plastered across posters in the city.

_Wanted—_

_Enemy of the Fire Nation—_

_Handsome reward—_

Katara gasped quietly as the figure fully faced her.

“You’re the Blue Spirit!” piped up the little girl in awe, echoing Katara’s exact thoughts.

The Blue Spirit didn’t spare the girl a glance. They were staring at Katara, and their stance reminded her of the rigid fighting position they had assumed against the thief. Katara started to take a step forward, uncertain why they would feel so threatened by the sight of her.

And then they turned on their heel and began to bolt away, both swords tucked on their back once more and glinting in the moonlight.

Katara blinked, surprised into inaction for half a second.

“Wait!” she cried out after she'd recovered, rushing forward. “Wait, please!”

But the Blue Spirit didn’t turn or stop, nor give any indication they’d heard her. Their head start was too great, and Katara didn’t want to leave the little girl behind all on her own. And so she halted, disappointed, watching the back of the figure dart around the corner and out of sight. Shoulders slumping a little, Katara turned to face the wide-eyed little girl.

“Here,” said Katara gently after a moment of shocked silence, walking forward and bending to pick up some fallen apples from the ground so she could begin packing them into the girl’s bag. “If you just wash the food that fell, it’ll be good as new. And I can walk you home, okay?”

The little girl chattered excitedly with Katara as they gathered her fallen food from the ground, and she didn't stop on the entire walk home. She speculated endlessly about the Blue Spirit and gushed about the rescue. She thanked the water-bender at least twenty times before Katara had gotten her home, though Katara felt like she hadn’t done anything at all before the Blue Spirit had dropped into the scene. And though she was invited inside the little girl’s home Katara declined the offer, knowing she needed to try and find her own bag of food that she had left on the street—not that it was likely, someone had probably already taken it—and get home before Sokka had a heart attack.

As she again slipped through the streets of Ba Sing Se, Katara couldn’t shake her thoughts away from the mysterious Blue Spirit, serving justice under the cover of darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to Smoke & Mirrors! Or, if it is your first round with this fic, welcome!
> 
> Please read the entirety of these author's notes. I know it's long, but important.
> 
> First, regarding updates: I will be posting this quite quickly, each chapter coming within 1-3 days, the pauses mainly there so that I have some time to do another editing pass between each chapter. Nothing major, and no plot changes; since I'm having to repost anyway, I just thought I would take the opportunity to tighten up prose, word choice, and grammar so you have the best story possible and can then save a copy of that version, if you'd like.😊
> 
> Second, this is the first fic in this universe. There will be a second fic coming as well. I think of it like television seasons. So don't panic when we reach the end. Lol.
> 
> Third.....for now, I will moderate comments. I want to do away with that soon, because I know that 99% of commenters are AMAZING, and I want them to be able to comment freely and without moderation.
> 
> And finally! Since I had to delete and remove, I lost all the stats and lovely comments. This obviously makes me rather sad. So if you're comfortable with doing so, please consider giving love again, even if you have read it before. Don't feel pressured, but if you do send love, just know that those things are appreciated more than you could possibly know, especially with a reposted story.💙
> 
> Now I've officially gone on long enough. See you over the weekend with the next chapter☺️


	2. I. girl // sleepless.

* * *

Katara was experiencing a lingering restlessness, a persistent itch deep in her bones.

She knew that the cause was staying in the same place too long after months of journeying on Appa’s back. She also knew that Aang would not want to leave Ba Sing Se until they had found Appa. Or at least not until there was evidence that Appa was not in the city. And besides, speaking to the Earth King was important, and it wasn’t as if they could travel very far without Appa anyway.

It still didn’t mean that being trapped in Ba Sing Se was easy. Even if the city held certain fascinations.

And the latest fascination for Katara was the Blue Spirit.

After her encounter with the figure, her eyes scanned every wall for posters. She’d study them closely whenever she spotted them, but the posters knew even less about the Blue Spirit than Katara did. Knowing that the Blue Spirit was an enemy of the Fire Nation was intriguing enough, but now Katara knew that they were wandering streets and jumping rooftops, helping innocents...

Katara spent two weeks hovering around the rundown streets of the lower ring as the evenings approached in the hopes of finding them. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t tell her friends about the encounter, or about her increasingly desperate attempts to see the Blue Spirit again. Perhaps because she feared they would see it as a distraction. Or maybe they would want to join her. For Katara, however, even if it was a distraction, it was a welcome one—somewhere she could channel her brimming energy which was threatening to spill over.

One evening, as Katara was mingling once more in the lower ring, there was a commotion on the street.

As usual, she heard her brother’s voice of warning in her head.

“We should probably keep the bending to a minimum,” Sokka had said, not too long after the group’s arrival in Ba Sing Se and after they’d made the decision to quietly search for Appa without permission. “Only for emergencies.” He had been looking at Katara as he spoke, his gaze far too knowing. “Especially water-bending,” he’d continued. “There probably aren’t many water-benders in the city, so if there are problems with a water bender it wouldn’t take long for it to get traced back to us. We don’t want to risk losing a meeting with the Earth King, and we’re already breaking rules for Appa.”

Katara knew what Sokka was really saying without actually saying it: _Now isn’t the time to take justice into your own hands, Katara._

Sokka had a point, of course, as he most often did. But it was much easier to agree with his words in theory—upon first arriving in the city and with little to no context for the happenings of the lower ring—than it was to agree with them now, while Katara was watching injustice play out before her eyes.

From her current standpoint at a stall down the road, hood pulled surreptitiously over her head to avoid attracting attention, Katara glanced over for what must have been the third time. A gigantic man, tall and thick and brutish, was leading a group of two other similarly built and intimidating looking men to a dilapidated little stall. Katara knew from her now extensive wanderings of the lower ring that it was a struggling food stall. It was owned by a wizened old man that had smiled brightly at Katara when she'd ordered a soup there one afternoon.

“Just ignore it,” whispered a voice, the saleswoman at Katara’s market stall. Katara looked up at her, blue eyes wide.

“What?” Katara couldn’t imagine how people could simply look the other way, but when she glanced up and down the street she saw that everyone had averted their eyes.

“It’s the way of things down here,” said the woman sadly. “They own this street, and many others besides. And if they show up and we can’t pay right away...” She trailed off, biting her lip. Her eyes flicked fearfully toward the stand again, which the men had just paused at, laughing boisterously.

Katara felt her blood begin to boil, and she almost dropped the orange she was holding.

“This is all I have,” came a shaky, frightened voice, along with the unmistakable jingle of coins hitting the counter.

“Anyway,” said the woman, hurriedly looking away, though she flinched at the sound of a loud crash seconds later. When Katara’s head whipped over she saw that the sound had come from the ringleader of the group smashing his fist onto the counter of the old man’s stall. Coins went flying, and the owner cried out and ducked.

The fruit saleswoman valiantly tried to push through with her sale, even though her voice was shaking. “So—I—I also have some lovely pears if you want to—”

But Katara dropped all the fruit she had been contemplating for purchase and was already moving quickly down the street, her nimble fingers automatically unscrewing the water pouch she kept on her belt. She’d kept a low profile in Ba Sing Se until now. No water-bending attacks. She could do it here. Just this once. Dusk was falling, and she’d keep her hood up. No one would be able to prove it was her.

Buoyed by her decision to act, Katara picked up the pace, curling her fingers and feeling the water in her pouch begin to react in response, ready to follow her command.

“That’s not the price we agreed on, old man,” one of the men said, and the others gave angry grunts of agreement. “This isn’t even half.” He leaned forward, right into the stall owner’s space. “You know what happens when you can’t pay, don’t you?” The other jeered and laughed; one of them cracked his knuckles.

“Please!” cried the man, taking a few steps backward. “Business has been hard, people keep disappearing, and—”

“Save it,” snarled the ringleader. “That’s your problem to solve, not mine. This is the second time you’ve tried to cheat us by giving us so little.” He gestured lazily at the stand. “Smash it to pieces,” he told his men, as the owner gave a little wail of misery and stumbled further backward, hands flying up to protect his face.

“Walk away.” Katara’s voice was harsh and loud.

The group paused and slowly turned to face her, and a hush fell over the street as passserby stopped to stare at Katara, now standing on her own across from four extremely large men; and the men carrying weapons, no less.

Abruptly, the thugs all began to laugh, the sound echoing down the otherwise hushed street.

“Go home, little girl,” said their leader, eyeing her with extreme dislike.

“Leave that man alone.” Katara tilted her chin up and did not break her gaze.

The man’s eyes flashed. “And what exactly are you planning on doing about it?”

“You probably don’t want to find out.” She could feel the blood running through her veins, and the way that the water in her pouch was waiting for her to direct it. Her power was pulsing, hovering, ready to be commanded. The water’s vibrations were in her fingertips. They _were_ her fingertips.

The group of men just laughed harder at this answer. The old man peeked up and over the counter of his stand again, now watching the exchange with wide, fearful eyes. “Whatever, sweetheart,” sneered the leader, and then turned his back on her. The other men followed suit, chortling; they had not even considered her a worthy opponent.

That, Katara decided, had to be remedied immediately.

Like lightning she reached out with her power, forming the water into a whip. It snatched the ankles of the leader and brought him to the ground with a resounding crash.

Roaring angrily, he sprung to his feet. In unison, all of the men drew their swords. Several stall owners gasped or squeaked in fear.

“A bender, are you? Fine,” snarled the leader, teeth bared. “If that’s what you want.”

They began to advance, drawing their swords.

“Yes, actually,” said Katara, a small, fierce smile curving the edges of her lips upward, “This is exactly what I want.”

The fight commenced with a fury. The group charged and Katara backtracked, light on her feet, first using her water whip to hook around the ankles of one of the attackers and fling him against a nearby wall. He slid to the ground, unconscious, and she repeated the attack on the next target. This one dodged it with a shout, and Katara turned on her heel and ran, knowing she would be unable to immobilize the entire group before they reached her.

She headed toward a side street at full speed and, spotting buckets of water dotting the street near a tether for ostrich horses, Katara pulled the water out and threw the gigantic wave over her shoulder. The ostrich horses were screeching, and the owner was shouting angrily at her, but Katara was too concentrated on her next move to notice.

She half turned, still running, and with one expert sweep of her hand, froze the spilled water.

There were roars of dismay as the remaining two men chasing her lost their footing and began to slip and slide on the street. One of them flew backward, landing hard on his back, his sword clattering beside him. Katara kept going, pushing through the side street and emerging into the next one. She used the maze of streets to her advantage, dodging nimbly between people and carts, returning to the street from which she’d come. Shouts came when Katara reappeared.

Mostly they were shouts of encouragement, but they quickly turned to shouts of warning when the ringleader sprinted into the street too, still hot on her heels.

When he saw her, he charged. Katara tried to shoot a water whip at him from her pouch, but he dodged it. And then—in a show of massive brute strength—he hurled his sword through the air at Katara like a dagger. She side-stepped, surprised that he had been able to throw it at her. And he hadn’t even slowed down. The moments it had taken Katara to dodge the attack had cost her, and though she'd begun to summon a water whip again the man got to her first. He kicked and his foot collided with her chest, sending her flying backward.

With a crash, she hit yet another barrel of water. Dimly, she heard more ostrich horses screeching before she crumpled to the ground, wheezing and clutching at her chest. Katara let out a quiet moan of pain and squinted up in the dim light dotting the street, which was now bathed in the darkness of approaching dusk.

Katara tried desperately to get her bearings. The wind had been knocked out of her; she was dizzy, not to mention that drawing breath was painful. Her adrenaline was still pumping enough to warn her to move, however, and her fighter instincts were also buzzing. Especially when a large, blurry figure appeared over her, brandishing the sword he had earlier thrown.

Katara gasped and rolled, just in time for the metallic sound of the sword swiping through the air to whiz by her.

She heard it strike the ground exactly where she’d been laying and knew to keep rolling.

When she was facing the sky again the sword appeared once more, almost out of nowhere. Again reacting on pure instinct, Katara used all of her remaining strength to summon the water lying in puddles all along the ground. With an upward block movement, palms out, it turned to ice and formed a shield right in front of her. The man thrust his sword forward and it lodged momentarily in the ice.

The tip made it through, only inches from Katara’s chest.

Growling with fury, her attacker yanked it out again, and the ice shield shattered. Katara let out a little cry and automatically covered her face from the hard shards raining down around her, littering her arms with tiny little cuts. She looked about wildly, trying to find and focus on her opponent again.

He rose his sword, the grimace on his face now positively livid and even a little demented. And Katara very briefly went numb with terror before she rolled again.

This time, the sword did not strike the ground where Katara had been. Instead, there was a very loud clang from somewhere above her.

“What the—” snarled the voice of the leader.

She heard gasps, and eventually whispers, and Katara finished rolling and sat up to survey what had happened in the space of mere seconds. Her eyes widened.

There, standing right behind the criminal gang leader and with both their dao swords held menacingly to his neck, was the Blue Spirit. When the leader growled and tried to struggle away, the Blue Spirit pressed the blades further into his skin. Katara could see little droplets of blood forming.

“Yield,” hissed the man, eyes widening. “Yield!” He dropped his sword to the ground, where it clattered loudly.The Blue Spirit whirled their captive around so that the man was facing the opposite direction; and then the Blue Spirit aimed a kick at his back.

The criminal stumbled forward, cursing, and then bolted, leaving his sword forgotten on the ground. There were excited cheers and shouts erupting on the street. Katara scrambled to her feet, still struggling to catch her breath and wincing at the pain in her chest, eyes locked incredulously on the Blue Spirit.

“They’ll still be back, though,” Katara heard the fruit stall saleswoman mutter under her breath.

She sounded so melancholy that Katara was about to go and speak with her and make promises that she knew that she wouldn't always be able to keep—that she could personally watch over the street, that she would help keep them all safe—but then the Blue Spirit began to hurry away, slipping into the closest alley they could find.

But Katara wasn’t about to let them escape a second time.

“Hey!” she called. Her voice was much more of a croak than usual. She side-stepped a few curious shoppers trying to get closer to her. “Wait! Wait! _Please_!”

The Blue Spirit was unnaturally quick. But Katara had also learned how to move quickly through the crowded streets of the lower ring, and she wasn’t a slow runner by any means. It seemed that the Blue Spirit was truly desperate to get away from her, because she tailed them through the alley, down a side street and then another, before they entered another alley. And they were giving no indication they were about to slow down. “Please!” called Katara, her breath starting to come in short, uncomfortable bursts.

Why was the Blue Spirit running like this from her after just stepping in to help her finish off the fight?

Rather irritated now, Katara’s eyes quickly scanned the alley, looking for a water source to bend so that she could possibly slow down the retreat of the figure she was so intent on catching. But before she could do so, she was taken by complete surprise as the Blue Spirit skidded to a stop right before entering the next street.

Katara was able to narrowly avoid a collision by dodging to the side. She was still stumbling when she felt a hand on her wrist, pulling.

“Wha—” she began loudly, but she wasn’t able to finish her sentence.

The Blue Spirit’s hand clapped over her mouth and began dragging her further into the shadows of the alley.

Katara was too shocked to react for a few seconds. After all, this person had just saved her from some serious stab wounds, so why would they want to drag her into an alley against her will? But then panic set in and she began to struggle, making muffled noises of anger and indignation against their hand. The Blue Spirit made a furious shushing sound and drew her further into the shadows, pulling her down to duck behind a dumpster. They used their other hand to jab a finger furiously in the direction of the street they had been running toward.

The Blue Spirit peered around the side of the dumpster and watched carefully. For a few more seconds there was silence except the sounds of labored breathing filling the alley. Katara followed the gaze of the masked figure and waited, eyes wide, mouth still covered.

Three Dai Li agents marched by the alley down the other street, weapons out and faces determined.Their footsteps had passed and faded into obscurity at least a full minute before Katara felt the Blue Spirit relax. He lowered the hand from her mouth and stood up.

“No. Don’t you dare,” said Katara quickly, but they were already starting to slip away again.

This time, however, Katara was prepared.

She hurried around to plant herself in front of the Blue Spirit, staring up into the mask and folding her arms.

“Just _wait_ a second, would you?” she said, frowning up at them. She hadn’t realized how much taller they were than her. Seeing the Blue Spirit framed against enemies made them appear short, but they were still at least a whole head taller than Katara. She found herself tilting back to look up at them properly.

The Blue Spirit’s fingers twitched. Katara guessed they were still plotting a possible escape from this interaction.

“Why do you run away?” Katara asked, taking a few steps forward as the Blue Spirit took a few back, shoulders stiff with discomfort. “Why did you help me back there? Who are you?”

A sound came from behind the mask. It was just a small little scoff, but it was something.

And Katara knew it was vaguely ridiculous, but it was comforting to hear human noises from the Blue Spirit. It was confirmation that there was an actual human under there and not something supernatural.

It also sounded distinctly masculine. “Are you a boy?” she demanded, heart pounding. Part of her couldn’t believe the Blue Spirit was here in front of her, and that she’d actually caught up with them and was attempting an actual conversation.

There was a very long pause in which the Blue Spirit simply stared at her. They seemed to be weighing something.

Finally, the mask bobbed as the figure—the young man underneath—gave a quick nod.

Well. Judging by his height he was almost certainly around her age or possibly a bit older than she was. This was distinctly interesting, though Katara tried to push it away, well aware that now wasn’t exactly the time for such interests. After all, look what had happened when she had tried to indulge in a little romance on the road with Jet. Besides, she didn’t even know what he looked like. She did know, however, that he had stepped in to help her, so she struggled to find her voice to express her gratitude properly.

“Well...thank you,” said Katara. “You stepping in back there was really—well,” she said, raising her chin a little, “I _did_ have it handled, but it was still helpful. Thank you. Really.”

Another scoffing sound came from under the mask. He seemed to be actively amused at her assertion she'd had the situation under control, and Katara couldn’t stop the small scowl from spreading over her features. “So you never talk, or what?” she asked, coming out harsher than originally intended.

The Blue Spirit just gave a terse shake of his head before turning on his heel, clearly about to try and hurry around the dumpster on the other side and evade her, but Katara snatched his arm. “Wait! I—I wanted to ask you something since the last time I saw you.”

The Blue Spirit paused in his steps but did not turn around, his posture still stiff.

He did not react further but she plunged ahead anyway, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt. “I was hoping maybe you could teach me. How to use those swords.” She gestured over his shoulders toward his back, where the double blades rested.

Slowly, the Blue Spirit turned around and stared at her.

“I could help you more in return!” Katara rushed to say, sensing that he didn’t like this idea at all. “I like how you go around the city helping people. I can help you. I shouldn’t water-bend, though. I wasn’t even really supposed to water-bend tonight, and—and anyway, I’ve wanted to learn an alternative to water-bending since before I got to the city.” Katara trailed off for a moment, thinking of how Ty Lee flew through the sky with ease, and how the contact of her fingers on Katara’s body had felt as though her muscles were crumbling to dust.

The Blue Spirit tilted his head slightly.

“It just seems,” Katara continued, a little furiously, “that those men were taking advantage of that whole shopping street, and that it might be a bigger problem. I want to help people. And the Dai Li won’t do it.”

Katara watched the Blue Spirit so long that she was certain that he was going to say no, until—

The mask tilted downward as the figure gave a curt nod. Katara’s eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together.

“Great! So where should we meet? How often? Should I—” But she stopped abruptly when the Blue Spirit came a few paces forward, their finger in the air, signaling her to wait. Katara stopped breathing when they halted right in front of her, looking at her for a long moment before they raised a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture.

They pulled away and stepped back.

“You want me to keep this a secret?” Katara guessed.

This was just bizarre. This was easily one of the strangest things she’d ever planned to do, but the thought of secretly helping people by night filled her with a fire she couldn’t quite explain. She knew she’d never be able to explain it to the others. They wouldn’t get it. Aang might be able to understand why she wanted something like this, but even then she would probably hear so many cautionary words, especially because of Appa...

“I will,” Katara confirmed, nodding resolutely. “I promise.”

The Blue Spirit folded his arms and stared longer.

Katara almost wanted to laugh despite her indignation, because she understood perfectly what his body language was trying to say. He didn’t believe her.

“ _Really_ ,” said Katara, arching a brow at him. “I won’t tell anyone about any of this, okay? I don’t think my brother and friends would approve of it all anyway. We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile in the city.”

The Blue Spirit watched her a moment before nodding again, and Katara saw his shoulders relax.“I’m guessing you’re not going to actually speak to me or show your face? Or even tell me your name?” Katara asked shrewdly.

The Blue Spirit coughed, disguising another laugh, before shaking his head.

Katara huffed. “Well, fine. I don’t know what you did to the Fire Nation but it must be big if you’re this secretive. Not to mention how wanted you are. There are posters everywhere, but I’m guessing you’ve seen those.” She smiled, but his body stiffened in response to these words and Katara immediately knew she had said something wrong. “Not that I mind,” she rushed to say. “Honestly, seeing the posters and knowing you’re an enemy of the Fire Nation helps me trust you. And you did really help me out back there in that fight, so...”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence in which the Blue Spirit stared down at the ground.

The rising feeling that this avenue of conversation was very unwelcome overwhelmed Katara until she felt compelled to quickly change the subject. “So, can I just call you ‘Blue’?” she asked. “I’m Katara, by the way.”

The Blue Spirit nodded slowly.

“You know,” Katara mused, “This whole not speaking thing is going to make coordinating somewhat difficult.”

He sighed and pointed at the ground.

“Here?” guessed Katara.

The Blue Spirit pointed sideways.

“Um. There?”

He growled in frustration and then shook his head, pointing more vigorously at the ground and then the sideways pointing motion, over and over. Katara watched this for a time, wondering why in the world he insisted on communicating this way when he clearly had a functioning voice, before she realized what he was trying to say.

“Here, tomorrow?” she guessed again, and the Blue Spirit nodded, then flashed her two ones.

“Eleven o’clock.”

The mysterious figure gave her one final nod. He appeared satisfied she had gotten the message.

“Okay,” said Katara, heart speeding up again as she contemplated sneaking out of the mansion in the Upper Ring and making her way here again tomorrow night. She had no idea what the Blue Spirit had planned. Or should she plan something? Maybe for the first night she’d let him lead, especially since he was technically the one teaching her a new skill? “Should I...um, bring anything?” she continued, very uncertainly, but the Blue Spirit just shook his head.

Then, astoundingly, he bowed slightly.

Katara returned the gesture. “Well...” she said, smiling a little. “Thank you. Again. See you tomorrow?”

One more nod, and then he was moving around her, through the shadows of the alley and out of sight. Katara watched him retreat, wondering if she had gone completely crazy. She was finally going to fight again. She was going to learn to defend herself without her bending. She was possibly going to get to take out some of her excess restlessness on criminals and help others in this city full walls and secrets, rather than passively sitting around and waiting for someone to report Appa or make an appointment with the Earth King for them.

So Katara decided right then that even if this was crazy, she’d embrace it for the time being. She really needed this.

“Bye, Blue,” Katara whispered, long after he’d disappeared.

A leap of excitement jolted her gut at the thought of what tomorrow would bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter coming tomorrow or Monday. Happy weekend.😊


	3. star roving

* * *

Katara picked her way through the streets of Ba Sing Se the following night once again, though this time with a purpose.

Katara had waited some time after everyone had gone to bed before sliding out from under her covers, fully dressed in comfortable, black attire that she’d picked up earlier that day. It was very similar to what the Blue Spirit wore. She had listened carefully for a few moments. She had even heard Sokka’s faint snores coming from his room.

When she was satisfied that no one else was awake and would impede her exit Katara had very quietly slipped out the front door, her heart hammering unevenly in her chest as she made her way to the lower ring.

Once there, she kept an eye out for familiar markers and fervently hoped that she wouldn’t get lost on the way to the alley where she’d made her deal with the Blue Spirit. It was more difficult than she expected. She hadn’t exactly been paying attention to directions when she had chased him last night, so it took quite a lot of her concentration to find it again.

When she arrived it didn’t appear, at first, as though the Blue Spirit was there yet.

Katara advanced into the alley. She was about halfway along when the Blue Spirit emerged from shadows to her right.

She jumped, letting out an involuntary little yelp of surprise. “Oh,” Katara breathed, struggling to control the pace of her breathing again, her hand over her heart. “You scared me a little. How did you learn to sneak around and hide so well?”

The Blue Spirit just folded his arms and stared at her, tilting his head slightly.

“Still not speaking?” Katara guessed, and he nodded. She sighed. “Well, fine. At least you didn’t jump down at me from above. How do you get around so quickly, anyway?”

He pointed upward, toward the rooftops, and dragged a finger across the space between the two.

“What, you’re trying to say that you jump from roof to roof?” Katara stared at him, mouth hanging open a little.

He nodded again, and added a little shrug. Katara wasn’t sure why, but she imagined that he was smirking under that mask. And then he pointed at her, and up to the rooftops again.

“Oh no,” said Katara, shaking her head. “No need for me to learn that.”

The Blue Spirit, however, nodded firmly and folded his arms again, staring at her. “Well,” said Katara, hesitating as her eyes flicked between the rooftops. “Okay, I guess...”

He gestured toward himself, and she took this to mean that she should follow him. He led her into the deeper shadows, further from the main streets. When they paused they were far from any sliver of light, bathed almost completely in darkness. At first Katara could just make out the flashes of white on the Blue Spirit’s mask when he turned to face her, but eventually her eyes adjusted and she could see his figure better, as well as her surroundings. The wall behind him was crumbling and uneven, with bricks missing.

The Blue Spirit glanced at her once, seemingly making sure that she was paying attention, before he began to scale the wall.

Something told Katara that he could actually do it much faster, and that he was being deliberately slow. That way she could watch exactly where he climbed up, where he put his feet, which spots were the best to get a firm grip and not come tumbling down, the smooth way in which he maneuvered from side to side and upward. The Blue Spirit made it so easily to the top that Katara was envious. He then clung to the edges of the roof and pulled himself up with an ease that told her that under that clothing was a fair amount of muscle.

And then he immediately leaped down again; first the shorter distance to a closed dumpster before, finally, to the ground.

“Show off,” muttered Katara.

He just walked over, stood between her and the wall, and then pointed at it.

Determined to prove herself, she swept forward and lodged her foot into the first gap. She wrapped her fingers around the first protruding brick and hoisted herself up. Katara heard footsteps and glanced over her shoulder; the Blue Spirit was hovering below her. He nodded once, urging her on, and Katara turned back to the wall, understanding now why he had jumped down again. He was going to climb up after her, just in case she fell. She pursed her lips determinedly, eyeing her next move. She wasn’t going to fall.

There were a couple of instances where Katara thought she was stuck, where she had to take a long time to search out her next foothold. There was also one moment where she slipped, just slightly, and for a heart-stopping moment she feared that she would go tumbling down to the ground and take the Blue Spirit with her.

But no. She made it, and hoisted herself up, and found herself standing on the rooftop, looking out over the lights and houses and the crisscrossing, chaotic pattern of the streets in Ba Sing Se. And when she looked up into the sky the waning moon was almost directly above her. Katara breathed in contently, feeling the power it put in her veins.

She turned to see that the Blue Spirit had indeed joined her on the roof, silently watching her soak in the moon. Katara flashed him a smile. “It’s nice up here,” she said.

The Blue Spirit didn’t comment, obviously. He just looked at her for a moment and then gestured to the other rooftop. Katara immediately grasped what he was trying to tell her. “You go first,” she told him, and with a brief, perfunctory nod, he complied. He set himself some paces back from the roof, and for a moment all Katara saw was the rise and fall of his shoulders, how his mask moved up and down slightly as he gauged the distance and the jump. The gap wasn’t too drastic, but Katara found herself sizing it up now too, knowing she’d have to make the jump in just a few moments.

The Blue Spirit squared his shoulders, took one last deep breath, and took off at a sprint.

Katara marveled at how nimble he was; already she could tell that the uneven shingles of the rooftop were not exactly going to be easy to run across. He was very precise. Very fluid. It was obvious he had done it many times before. He maneuvered them perfectly, and right before the edge of the roof, he leaped. Katara watched as he landed, agile as a cat and in a low crouch, on the opposite roof. He straightened and turned to face her.

The mask staring at her seemed to say: _Your turn._

Katara lined herself up in the spot that he had chosen and squared her shoulders, just as he had done. She didn’t want to give herself too much time to think or look at what she was jumping. It wasn’t that she was afraid of heights necessarily. She was fine on Appa’s back. And she had ridden large waves of her own water-bending, high above the ground, or been in the air for fighting. No, generally Katara wasn’t afraid of heights. And so she steeled herself, took one last deep breath, and copied the Blue Spirit’s movements into a sprint.

She let her feet break from the edge at the last moment, having also deftly dodged the shingles of the roof. She was thankful that she didn’t trip. She had good momentum but she was shorter than he was, and she had never done it before, so for a terrifying moment she wasn’t sure that she was going to make it.

She watched the other roof approaching, drawing nearer and nearer as she flew through the air. But it didn’t seem near enough, and suddenly she was convinced she’d fall—

But her feet caught the other roof. She stumbled; she hadn’t landed far from the edge, and now she was wavering, struggling to keep her balance and not go tumbling off.

Before she knew it, the Blue Spirit was at her side and his hand was closed around her wrist, pulling her away from the edge.

Katara stumbled again, surprised, and found herself practically collapsed on his chest.

It lasted all of two seconds, but that was long enough for Katara to confirm her belief that he was abnormally strong. He hadn’t moved at all as she bowled clumsily into him. He was sure and steady, his chest hard. It was almost like crashing into a rock. “Sorry,” she gasped, pleased she had made it but rather irritated with her own lack of grace. She was also a little flustered about the proximity to him, but she determinedly tried not to think about that.

 _Remember Jet,_ her mind chanted faintly.

His hand was still on her wrist as she straightened up. When he let go, he gave her a nod. Katara took that to mean that he was satisfied with her performance.

He pointed across the roof, toward the next one, and this time it was Katara who simply nodded.

She watched him retreat as he sprinted away, take another flying leap, and land once more with ease on the opposite rooftop. Katara wasted less time following him this time. She was more confident after the first one, and besides, she could see that this jump was going to be easier. It was smaller, and the rooftop she was heading toward was lower than this one, meaning that her momentum would carry her further. And sure enough, when he turned to watch and she followed, she cleared it with ease.

Another nod. Katara was beginning to recognize that this was indeed his way of praising her.

“I want to learn to fight,” she told him. “Can’t we do some of that today?”

The Blue Spirit stared at her for a long moment, and then walked toward her. And then he stared a bit more. He seemed to be appraising her, sizing her up, and his scrutiny was making her a little self-conscious. And then he stepped forward, and placed his hand under her chin. Katara knew that he was tilting her chin up to correct her posture, but regardless, her stomach twisted into nervous knots. The Blue Spirit changed little things; he squared her shoulders again, and then circled her, and once he was standing in front of her again he used his feet to nudge hers slightly apart. And then he stood across from her in a similar position—he bent his knees and set his center of gravity lower, making the movement highly exaggerated so that she would get the hint that she was to copy him.

“Don’t we need a sword?” Katara asked. “And shouldn’t we go down to the ground?”

The Blue Spirit just shook his head. And then he pointed at himself and did a small series of movements.

They were just basic steps, precursors to more complicated fighting techniques. It was almost as though he was dancing. It was fascinating. He seemed to instinctively know where to step on the roof tiles, and the way his limbs moved seemed so effortless that all Katara could do was stare in awe.

Katara was no stranger to fighting moves, of course, but this was rather different than her usual water-bending style. The movements were indeed very fluid as hers were, but there was also a quick, harsh precision she wasn’t accustomed to; occasional jabs or chopping motions with the arms, or exaggerated, short steps with the feet. When his feet slid across the shingles his legs were wide and set, unlike her water-bending stance.

The Blue Spirit spun a final time and then stopped in a position with his arms blocking his face. He dropped them and straightened up.

And then he pointed at Katara.

It was so strange that even though he didn’t speak she understood what he was doing perfectly. Or, more accurately, she already understood why he was having her do this, somehow having answered her earlier questions without saying a word. Perhaps it was because she was already familiar with combative movements. But she knew, now that she was about to try and perform the sequence herself, that being up on the roof made her pay extra attention to her feet. She couldn’t afford to be clumsy due to the unevenness of the terrain, nor could she be careless. She had to be careful and precise, something that matched his stealthy style exactly.

And she also knew why they didn’t have a sword yet. She’d been overeager. First she had to learn to step in a way that sword fighters step; specifically, the way a fighter that works with dao swords steps.

But there was another thing that was strange that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

It had to do with his movements. They were...familiar. They reminded her of something, but she didn’t know what.

Katara took one more deep breath and began.

She felt very self-conscious with his eyes on her the whole time, even if she couldn’t see them. And she was distinctly aware that her movements weren’t smooth, and that she'd gotten a few of the steps wrong. She had to concentrate on keeping her balance on the angle of the roof more than she’d planned.

When she’d finished, she finally gathered the courage to look at him.

It was actually quite nice, not having a facial expression to read. She didn’t have the chance to desperately try and judge how she had done. The Blue Spirit just gestured toward her with a palm open. “Again?” Katara asked, and he nodded.

She did the sequence three times before he seemed to be satisfied. And then he showed her another.

After that he came and stood before her again, got into fighting stance, and put up his arms.

And again, Katara understood what he wanted without him needing to speak. He wanted to spar with her.

She wasn’t sure how long it went on, but she had a feeling it was a long time. The Blue Spirit first would aim slow, predictable jabs or punches at her, toward her face or stomach, and let her block. He’d then wordlessly arrange her arms and correct her technique, and start over. Soon they were running through sequences where he was moving faster, and throwing punch after punch, not trying anything new until Katara had blocked him perfectly.

When their movements felt so aligned they were like a dance, he’d add something else. First it was kicks. Then it was spins. And eventually, after what was probably hours later, Katara was blocking him in unscripted sequences and once even tried to pull a jab of her own. That did not end well—he’d easily caught her fist in his hand, twisting it slightly so he could get control of the other one, and held her very still. She struggled, but couldn’t get loose.

Still, the focus tonight was mostly on blocking, and Katara felt she was a quick learner. The Blue Spirit must have agreed, because by the end he wasn’t correcting her stances or technique at all. Katara’s eyes were burning with exhaustion by the time they stopped. She hadn’t even realized how tired she was.

The Blue Spirit bowed, and Katara bowed back.

“How’d I do?” she asked, unable to help herself.

He gave her a thumbs up, and she grinned. “Thanks. Can we meet again soon?”

The Blue Spirit nodded, and then flashed the number two at her, though he tilted his head to let her know it was a question. Katara was already getting very good at understanding his wordless gestures. “Two nights from now?” Katara confirmed, and when he nodded she said, “Yes. Okay. Same place?”

He confirmed this with a final nod, and then gestured for her to follow him so they could find a way down from the rooftop. They dropped into an unfamiliar alley, and when Katara stood again, brushing herself off, the Blue Spirit gave an awkward little wave and turned on his heel to slip away.

Katara smiled again. “Bye,” she called after him, though quietly, because the city was finally falling asleep.

The nearby streets were almost silent, eerily so. It must have been later than she’d realized.

She’d loved it all; even the frustrating, difficult parts.

She hoped the others would let her sleep in tomorrow.

* * *

Over the next three weeks, Katara met with the Blue Spirit regularly.

The procedure every night that she did so was essentially the same. She waited until she was sure that the others were sleeping, sneaked quietly out, and made her way to the alley that had become their meeting spot. They wouldn’t speak much—and he never spoke at all—but they would always find a place to fight.

This was the part of the night that varied. For the first few meetings they had sparred exclusively without weapons, just like the first night on the roof. They focused on blocks and steps and dodges, and he corrected her form and showed her different ways to throw a punch or aim a kick, and they would drill the moves over and over and over until Katara got the feeling he wanted her to be able to perform them in her sleep.

After that, one night, he brought two wooden swords. Katara worked with those for nearly a week, at first without the Blue Spirit and just copying moves and steps and swings that he demonstrated. And then she graduated to sparring with him, learning how to circle and block and attack and parry. Fighting with him felt so natural. His refusal to speak to her did not hinder their mutual understanding. Even with swords, it was like a well-choreographed dance.

Her water-bending fighting did help her, but she’d half feared that she wouldn’t be able to learn combat like this as she had learned water-bending. The water-bending, after a bit of a slow beginning, had been so natural. It had come to her so quickly. And she had worried that wouldn’t be the case with sword-fighting or hand-to-hand combat; she had been concerned that she was only able to learn the fighting that had been in her blood.

But to her delight, Katara realized that she’d been wrong. She was fast becoming a natural. And every time that the Blue Spirit gave her his usual nod, she would feel a swell of pride.

When she moved on to the real swords, they proceeded more cautiously. It took Katara some time before she could properly swing them as she had the wooden ones—they were far heavier than she expected. Seeing the Blue Spirit use them almost made them seem weightless, but looks were deceiving. He was strong, and the swords were difficult to manage. But Katara was strong, too, and she was also determined.

Eventually her moves were less stilted, and her arms didn’t ache for days after a training session, and she could do some of the things that she could do with the wooden swords.

Katara could now concentrate on other things. She already knew from water-bending how to study her opponent. She knew to watch them for potential weaknesses, slight tells that indicated a preferred side or a previous injury. She knew to watch for moves that they performed often, to find a way to make them more predictable and thus beatable.

The Blue Spirit was unnaturally good at being unpredictable. But Katara began to notice something as they sparred. Whenever she swooped in on him from the right, he was slightly slower to react. His left side was weaker. He hid it well, and that was why Katara was even more pleased that she’d discovered it.

She began to exploit it immediately and without hesitation the night she realized it, coming at him from his left with a barrage of aggressive attacks. She’d feign the other way but always go right, or else try and get behind him and attack from his bad side. For once, Katara felt like she was the one actually attacking rather than either blocking or just keeping up—which, until now, had been their dynamic when they sparred. After about ten minutes of this, they paused to catch their breath.

The Blue Spirit watched her for so long that she felt her cheeks getting warm.

"What?” Katara asked, feeling a little smug.

He just shrugged, and they rested a bit longer before starting again.

Another two weeks later, when Katara came to the regular meeting place, the Blue Spirit was holding something.

When she came closer he thrust it at her and she took it, blinking in surprise.

It was a mask. It was white, except for the red flames licking the sides and curling onto the cheeks and forehead. But the thing that really stuck out to Katara was the half moon painted on the forehead. A wide smile spread slowly across her face. “Does this mean what I think it means?” She looked back up at him eagerly. His arms were folded and he was, as usual, watching her silently. “We’re going to fight for real now?”

When he nodded, Katara grinned wider. “Great,” she said, a sudden thrill running through her at the prospect of using the new skills she’d acquired on people that used their power to terrorize others, like those men harassing the shop owners for payment. “I’m ready. And thanks for the mask,” she said.

She took a small step forward, resisting the urge to put her hand on his shoulder. He seemed to like keeping a careful distance from her when they weren’t fighting. “Are you sure I can’t see underneath yours?”

The Blue Spirit stiffened before very curtly shaking his head.

“Well okay, Mr. Mysterious,” said Katara lightly, though her heart was sinking. She’d hoped— perhaps naively—that he’d reveal his face to her after they’d spent so much time together. Even if the time was mostly spent sparring each other and hardly speaking, she was beginning to think of him as a friend. “So are we doing this tonight?”

He just pointed at her. Katara knew exactly what he meant.

“Yeah. I want to if you do,” she confirmed, feeling that thrill of anticipation again. There was also a bit of nerves, but she pushed those away. There was always her water-bending to fall back on in dire emergencies.

The Blue Spirit pointed at the roof, and Katara understood that he had something in mind.

“I’ll follow you,” she told him, nodding.

As he began expertly scaling the wall she tucked her mask on and followed suit, feeling the weight of the dao swords resting on her back, the rapid beating of her heart, and the pulse jumping out of her neck at the prospect of her first real fight. When he had hoisted himself up to the roof, the Blue Spirit turned and helped pull her up, even though she’d done it plenty of times without his help.

They stood there for a moment, looking at each other.

It was the first time they were going to work as a team. Katara wasn’t worried. It was astounding, to her at least, how in sync they were when they fought, and how well she understood him despite his lack of words.

He surprised her by very briefly reaching up and touching her mask. It was stupid, but her breath caught just by this simple gesture. He adjusted it, making sure it covered her face properly. And then he gave her a brief nod, turned, and darted off across the roof.

Katara set off into a sprint after him.

* * *

Their first night was successful.

The Blue Spirit had led her to one of the seediest streets she’d ever seen, and from there it was only a matter of time before criminals revealed themselves—mostly thieves. Katara and the Blue Spirit took down three individual thieves that had been trying to take money from citizens. Those were easy. Seeing Katara in her mask and the Blue Spirit beside her had mostly been enough to send them running. Then there had been a bigger group, and they had been more bold; it had led to a real fight.

Though Katara went on the offensive a few times, she mostly had to concentrate on defense. She was still a bit clumsy with the heavier dao swords, so she blocked and dodged and let the Blue Spirit do all the knocking out. She considered it a success, though, after only a few weeks of real training; there had only been one mishap. When her opponent had slashed his sword Katara had been just a few seconds too late in jumping back, and so the tip had nicked her upper arm. The cut stung, but Katara didn’t stop.

The Blue Spirit stepped in to help her finish the job, and soon they had the man on his back, Blue’s dao swords pointed menacingly at his chest.

“If you keep robbing innocent citizens,” said Katara, making sure to radiate her voice powerfully from under the mask and sound as fierce as possible, “Next time will be much worse.” And with that they left the man lying there, staring indignantly after them. Katara felt more powerful than she had in ages, so pleased with herself that even the dull throb on her arm wasn’t really bothering her.

She and the Blue Spirit climbed up to a rooftop and sat, catching their breath, basking in their success.

After a few moments Katara bent water out of her pouch to cover her hand, ripped the fabric of her shirt, and held it to the injury on her upper arm. Her arm was still twinging a little afterward, but a second healing session should eliminate the cut entirely. Thankfully she’d been quick enough, and it hadn’t sliced too deep.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Blue Spirit gesturing. When she looked over, she saw that he was pointing at her injury, and tilted his head as a show of inquiry. “It’s fine,” said Katara, smiling at him as she finished up and bent the water back into her pouch. “It was a really shallow cut. The sword only grazed me.” And then she shifted to lay on her back with a little sigh. The ridges of the roof dug into her shoulder blades, but she couldn’t bring herself to care that much right now.

It had been so good to do something like this again, even if she’d mostly just distracted one man while the Blue Spirit had done the rest of the job. The adrenaline of the evening’s work had her tired, and for a moment she just enjoyed the twinkling lights above her.

She wondered if her tribe in the South Pole were doing the same, just with a different sky. And the stars above her were so pretty.

Here, within the walls of Ba Sing Se, she hadn’t had many nights where she could just pause to look up at them. And on the run with Aang and Sokka and Toph, the stars had been much easier to see. She missed their camping. She missed the movement and having a goal.

What she was doing with the Blue Spirit was helping, but it wasn’t quite the same.

Katara heard him shift beside her. When she peeked over she saw that he, too, was lying on his back, staring up at the night sky. “I know I wasn’t much help tonight,” she admitted. “But I still really liked it.”

The Blue Spirit glanced over; and then he shook his head and gave her a thumbs up.

A warm feeling of pride filled her. It was silent again for a while; but then, before she knew it, Katara was speaking again.

“I probably shouldn’t even be here,” said Katara, sighing. “My brother asked me yesterday why I seem so tired all the time. Toph has heard me going in and out in the night. She hears everything. She thinks I have a secret boyfriend that I’m sneaking out to meet.” She let out a nervous little laugh, chancing a glance over at him again. He had gone very still, but his mask was still turned up toward the stars. “It’s strange,” continued Katara, clearing her throat and fixing her gaze on a particularly bright star directly above her and feeling very fluttery all the sudden, “But I don’t think I want to tell my friends about this. Even if I hadn’t promised you, I still don’t think I would. It’s like—my own secret, I guess. Just something for me. Just something I’d have to explain, you know?”

She paused, trying to identify the churning feeling that was currently invading her stomach. “I guess,” she said, her voice getting a little lower and trembling slightly, “since I started fighting and really learning to bend, it’s been an outlet. I felt really helpless and angry growing up. Watching all the Fire Nation raids. Now I can fight back, and I have been. But in Ba Sing Se we’re waiting on others to act, and...”

She trailed off, and became aware of the eyes watching her behind the mask. Even if she wasn’t looking and could never even see his eyes, she knew that he was. She glanced over again and indeed, his head was turned to the side, looking at her.

“It’s just hard,” Katara finished, swallowing. “But you must know that. The Fire Nation must have done something to you, too. Is that why you do this?”

He just stared at her for a long time. Katara’s eyes swept over him, detecting a fair amount of tension in his body language—before he finally nodded slowly and resumed his thoughtful observation of the stars.

“Yeah,” said Katara softly, still watching him. “I thought so.”

She hesitated before speaking again. Whenever she got even relatively close to a personal question, she noticed that familiar discomfort in his shoulders. Katara had gotten very good at reading body language the past weeks, hanging out with Blue. It was necessary when she didn’t have a face to rely on in order to gauge the emotions of the person she was speaking to. “So...how old are you?”

His head turned. And then he helped up one finger, followed by a six.

“Sixteen?”

Blue nodded and held up his fingers in a “little bit” gesture.

“Just for a little while? You haven’t been sixteen for long?” Katara guessed.

He shook his head.

“Oh. Then you mean that you only have a little bit of time left, and then you’re seventeen?”

The Blue Spirit nodded. And then his head tilted, and he gestured toward her.

Katara smiled. Unless she was remembering incorrectly, it was the first time that he’d asked her to volunteer information about herself. Obviously, Katara did all of the talking when any words were exchanged. But overall they spent their time fighting, mostly in silence.

Tonight, she realized, was the first time she’d really talked to him about herself.

“I turned fifteen recently,” said Katara, peering at the sky again.

Her eyes found the moon, something she did every night, no matter where she was. The moon, unlike the stars, was still easy to see, even among the lights of the populated city. Tonight, however, it was better to be on the rooftop to fully appreciate it. It was a new moon. “My birthday was a little insane,” she admitted. “I didn’t even realize it had passed until...a few days later, I think.”

Katara heard Blue shift and sit up. When she glanced over, his knees were tucked to his chest and he was half turned toward her, clearly giving her an indication that he was listening.

“I was out in the desert,” she explained, also slowly sitting up, though she was now staring over the rooftops of the city. In the distance the wall of Ba Sing Se was visible, and Katara’s mind flew to the battle there with the drill, and how the Earth King still knew nothing about it, and how she and her friends could only helplessly wait to speak with him.

And suddenly, Katara felt so, so tired.

Not physically, which was saying something, considering all the fighting that evening. No. Just...mentally.

“My friends and I went to find this special library,” she told him, her voice even lower now, fidgeting with her sleeves as she spoke. “And things got really bad out there. We barely made it out alive because the library was underground, and it was sinking, and then Appa got stolen...” Katara’s eyes went glassy as she remembered. “I’ve never seen Aang like that before. But Appa—um, that’s Aang’s sky bison—has been with him since he was a baby. It’s a lifetime bond. And the Fire Nation killed all his people. His whole culture...Appa was the only thing he had left. He lost his temper with Toph, because she chose to keep the library from sinking and save us rather than save Appa. She couldn’t do both, it wasn’t her fault, but he blamed her, and then he flew off and we had to try and keep pressing forward. And for a while I just felt really alone. Even when Aang came back, he was so angry. Toph was blind—well, I mean, she’s always blind, but she normally sees with her feet. It’s really cool, actually. Normally she sees things we can’t, but not in the sand. And my brother, Sokka...”

Katara sighed, shaking her head half with affection and half exasperation. “He is so smart, and he always makes good plans. But sometimes he just does the dumbest things. He drank cactus juice and was way out of his mind the entire time.”

There was a low chuckle beside her, and Katara flashed him a look. Feeling pleased that her story was allowing her to connect with him in some way and that she’d managed to amuse him, Katara pressed on, scooting just a little bit closer to him across the rooftop.

“Well, anyway, that meant Sokka was actively unhelpful out there. And then there was the issue with the water. We only had a little, and of course I had to try and ration it for drinking. But I also needed water to bend since no one with me could bend...my brother can’t...Toph couldn’t...Aang was gone...”

Katara watched the Blue Spirit for a long moment before scooting another tentative inch closer. “It’s really nice of you to help teach me other types of fighting,” Katara said softly. “That time in the desert made me feel really...vulnerable. And before that, I had an encounter with someone who could briefly take away my bending...”

Katara shuddered, looking out over the rooftops as she again remembered Ty Lee soaring through the air toward her, and the sharp feeling that had zapped up the nerves in her arms where Ty Lee’s fingers had jabbed her. The image and feeling was something that returned to her often, and it never got less terrifying.

“Well,” said Katara finally, throwing him a small smile, “I didn’t want to feel helpless without my bending like that ever again. So thank you. And thank you for listening to me talk about all this.” Katara leaned forward, reaching out to touch his arm, but she saw how he stiffened and recoiled, so she withdrew her hand.

There was a long pause in which Katara stared down at the rooftop, feeling a little hurt. Still, despite her now quickly beating heart and the disappointment, Katara said shyly, “It’s strange. I’ve never seen you or even heard your voice, but I almost feel like—it’s like I already know you, I guess. Like we’re friends.”

The silence in the pause was deafening.

Then, abruptly, the Blue Spirit got to his feet.

Katara just stared up at him, eyes wide, wondering what he looked like behind that mask that was observing her, wondering what he was thinking, what he was hiding...

Without a word—which was hardly unsurprising—he held out a hand for Katara to take.

She took this to mean that the night was over and that he was taking his leave from her, and she hoped that she was successful in keeping her face from looking too crestfallen. He didn’t seem to reciprocate her warm feelings of at least tentative friendship. But Katara had a feeling that she didn’t manage her emotions as well as she had liked, and perhaps that he had noticed. Because although the Blue Spirit indeed began to lead her over to the spot where they could most easily clamber down the side of the building and head home, he also gave her hand a light squeeze on the way, so quick and gentle that Katara easily could have missed it.

Katara looked up and over at him. He wasn’t looking at her, but determinedly forward.

Katara desperately wished for the hundredth time that she could see his face, but she didn’t dare ask. She could tell that she’d already pushed the personal boundaries for the night.

She just allowed him to guide her carefully through the darkness, over the uneven rooftop.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Psssst. There is artwork for this chapter, of the Blue Spirit catching Katara while they jump rooftops! I still go regularly drool over it and can't believe it actually exists. Thank you once again to the artist, Nurchie.🥰🥰🥰
> 
> [Go check it out on Deviantart!!](https://www.deviantart.com/nurchie/art/Catch-me-860203629)


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